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Best Turntable at $1,500? Please Advise.

Dear Analog Veterans, I'm taking the plunge, and getting a turntable, following numerous disappointements with DACs (Bel Canto & MSB included) and the digital domain in general. I am new to the turntable arena, and would value advice from any analog savvy Audiogoners out there. I'm thinking of spending somewhere in the region of $1,500 (for table, arm, cartridge and phono stage) but would also value structuring my purchase so that there are good upgrade paths available in the near term (I could be willing to spend another $1,000 about four months from now). I would be most interested in getting something used on Audiogon, so if you know of any good deals in this pricepoint, please feel free to share. I could also consider upgrading my preamp to one with a phono stage (sensible I think). I hope my budget is enough to get me started (let me know if I really need to spend more though). Sound quality is, of course, of paramount importance, but if the table is visually appealing that would be great (more girlfriend friendly :-) Thanks in advance for your advice. My system is as follows: Bryston BP20 Preamp, Bryston 3B-ST Power Amp, B&W Nautilus 805 speakers, Stealth TR silver and PC Premier copper speaker cables (true birewire), Cardas Golden Cross, Kimber KCAG and Homegrown Audio Silver Lace Interconnects.
128x128outlier
frogman
7,441 posts
 
Outlier, welcome to analog land. You won't be sorry. Here's what I would do: Sell the Bryston pre. buy a used tubed pre. with good phono stage Quicksilver($700-850?and a little tweaky),Audible Illusions Mod.3($800-900? less tweaky easy with tubes, AR SP9II, Melos 222C(that's what I use and could probably be had for about $850,much to my chagrin, and sonically in a different league from the others IMO).You'll have the magic of tubes and won't need to spend $ on another interconnect. In my opinion, the phono stages of any of these is far better than any of the $200-750 seperate stages; unless you can get a great deal on a EAR. Used Rega Planar 3 very reliable and good sounding($375?). I have seen great deals for used VPI HW19's with Sumiko,Rega,ETII!!!!!!!(tweaky) in the 1000.00 range. I would not, being new to vinyl, buy a used cartridge. You would have to spend a lot more to better the performance of the Grado Platinum($300)And if you want to spend more buy a used record cleaner. Happy listening.
outlier's avatar
outlier OP
381 posts
 
Guys, thanks for the great advice. As per Frogman's advice, I think selling my preamp and getting a pramp with a phono section would be a smart first move (also wanted to get into tubes :-) and then I'll get the turntable. Again, seeing that this is my first venture into turntable stuff, do you recommend MC or MM, and how should I allocate my money across table, tonearm and cartridge (55%, 30%, 15%???). Sorry for the basic questions. Thanks!!
kweisner0800
10 posts
 
Well, since you're now talking new preamps, if you were willing to stretch your budget, check out the BAT VK-3i which can be had with an internal phono stage. I have one and am beyond happy with it. Gets you tubes, true balanced design, phono and even remote control that doesn't degrade the sound in a single component. Have seen them in the $1500 to $1800 range, but believe you would be happy with this investment for a long time. BTW, am using a Wilson-Benesch Full Circle for analog, which is very attractive (like sculpture that plays music) and does an awesome job. Picked it up used for $1500, so it's not out of the realm.
sedond
1,387 posts
 
re: tubed preamps, my melos music director (picked up used for $1800) is outstanding! no fono-stage, but my pentagon ps-3 ($1900 new, picked up for $600), is also outstanding. a solid-state piece, but still wonderful when run thru a tubed pre.

i also recently had in my system a couple other nice tube preamps - the cary slp98 - really nice, but not in the same league as the melos; the magnum-version of the rogue 99 - nice, but too coloured & lacking frequency extension in my system (might have been an impedence mismatch; rogue sez output impedence is 100 ohms, but my testing indicates its more like 2400 ohms). i tried an ar sp9 mkll several years ago, & it was awful in mny system; the solid-state electrocompaniet ec-1a crushed it.

as far as what percentage to spend on what piece of equipment, i'd suggest looking for a great deal on a used 'table w/an arm. it may or may not already come w/a cartridge. depending on how much ya have left, then decide on the fonstage &/or a tubed pre w/or w/o fono-stage. (the other adwantage of a tubed preamp is yule find your cd's are suddenly listenable!) ;~) if yer scared of a used cartridge, the needle doctor always has the ortofon mc-25fl on sale, from $450 to $225. this is an outstanding performer, but it's lo-output, so ya have to have a quality fono-stage. one thing i found w/my melos preamp, tho, is it has so much gain, i had to cut my fono-preamp back to its lowest setting, even w/the low ~0.25mv output of this cartridge. i wouldn't shy away from a used cartridge, tho - i recently bought on this website, a lyra clavis, re-built by vdh, for <$500. the rebuild service alone is $600, on a retail $1700 cartridge. there's always good cartridge deals on this site.

good luck, doug

john_l
782 posts
 
Speaking of Cartridges, What is a good $300-600 (new or used) cartridge for the rega 600 tonearm ? My super elyse cartridge sounds great, but I might want to upgrade after it wears out. Rumor has it, these have a 2000 hour life or so. I understand that you cannot retip a rega cart, so I might want to go to a higher end model that you can retip. Rega's apparently have no VTA, so you need to buy a compatible cartridge.
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